Healthy Chattanooga Kids

Thursday, August 13, 2015

It is time for Chattanooga to go “Back To School!”PHIC has decided that it would go back to
school as well.The Coalition has been
meeting for some time with Hamilton County Department of Education officials
and local health providers about partnering to improve the health of Hamilton
County’s children.

Hamilton County is challenged by pediatric asthma.Asthma is the number one reason children miss
school.These absences are just the tip
of the iceberg as many more children are distracted or are sleep deprived at
school by the symptoms of their asthma.42 of Hamilton County 71 schools have more asthmatic children than the
state average.10 schools have twice the
state average.

PHIC is working in three ways to improve support for
Hamilton Counties most at risk children.First, we are partnering with existing nursing to better treat asthma
and communicate medication needs.Second, the department is looking into ways to provide care coordination
for the moderate to severe asthmatics in county schools.Care coordination is the individual review of
individual child’s medical needs and assist with any gaps in care.Last, a large community coalition is working
to add telemedicine support to school nursing care and build comprehensive
medical clinics at central schools in underserved areas.

PHIC looks forward to sharing more of the initial plans as
they become finalized.Each neighborhood
that would be served by the proposed clinics will need to assist in the
planning of each specific clinic.The
goal is to build the best comprehensive health clinics in the region that serve
the neighborhood as precisely as they would like to be served.

It is an exciting time at the possibility that Chattanooga
will soon have a tool to remove the barriers to academic success and a fully
functional life that poor health now plays.

Sunday, December 28, 2014

The School-Based Health sub-group is composed of individuals
from the Hamilton Co. School System (administration and nursing
representative), health care providers (Erlanger and HCHD) and the philanthropic
community.

We have met several times throughout Fall 2014 and have
prioritized our agenda to include 2 shorter-term goals:

A longer-term goal is the implementation of one or more
school-based health centers to provide better access to students with acute and
chronic illnesses, ideally integrated with developmentally-appropriate health
education.

Steps toward implementation of Goal #1 include:

Obtaining
funding for a health education program on lung health.

Development
of asthma-treatment protocols for school nurses (in progress).

In-training
to school nurses – January 2015

Development
of asthma data collection system for students in Hamilton county schools.

Identification
of funding sources for materials and meds for treatment in the schools.

Communication
to primary care physicians for care coordination and follow-up.

Thursday, December 18, 2014

President’s Report

This has been a great year for
the Pediatric Health Improvement Coalition of the Tennessee Valley
(PHIC).We have completed our Strategic
Planning Initiative (SPI), begun the process of building strong community
pediatric interest groups, continued work on our comprehensive regional health
improvement plan and facilitated partnership with many community organizations
to move toward a healthier Tennessee Valley.

In December of 2013, PHIC
contracted Blue Cottage Consulting of Ann Arbor, MI to lead the SPI.This initiative was a catalyst to a rigorous
cycle of analysis, discussion and innovative design in regard to the health and
well being of our community’s children.

First, an initial study of the Tennessee
Valley pediatric market was completed.This data documented significant deficiencies in local inpatient and
subspecialty infrastructure compared to close market competitors.It also defined discrete community gaps in
primary and urgent care that correlated with our poorest and highest health
risk zip codes.

In the visioning phase, the project
team completed 52 stakeholder interviews with health, business, education, government,
non-profit and community leaders.These
conversations clarified the leadership’s vision of current child health and documented
the level of commitment to the future.

The project team also directed
four neighborhood listening forums in Dalton, GA; Hixson; Alton Park and East
Chattanooga.These forums defined the participating
parents, school nurses and community health advocates’ perception of our
primary pediatric issues.From these
sessions, PHIC has continued the development of three community pediatric
advocacy groups.These include the East
Chattanooga, Alton Park and Parents of Chronically Ill Children.

From our analysis and community
input, PHIC advanced the conversation around improving delivery, access and
provider partnership.PHIC has clearly defined
the benefits of greater provider partnership and provider-Children’s Hospital
partnership.

Finally, PHIC has developed a
strategic plan for expanded school-based health, provider-school communication
and community education standardization.The initial implementation of this plan around asthma has already begun.

It is exciting to see how much PHIC has matured this year.The board has transitioned from a planning
board to one that is now implementing our first round of projects.The diversity of gender, race and profession
has improved.We have hired an Executive
Assistant, Kimbilee Jonas, to work on day-to-day activity and promote our
communication.

The primary challenges have become very clear.These are severe disparity in pediatric
healthcare and outcomes, obesity, asthma, peri-natal health, infant mortality,
school readiness and behavioral health.The leadership has moved from a conversation focused on what doesn’t
exist in the Tennessee Valley.The new
conversation is the narrative of leveraging our current resources to address
these real challenges in an impactful and sustained way.

I was surprised this year by the
many pediatric efforts already present in our community.It is encouraging to see individuals; often
non-health licensed respected community members, performing essential pediatric
health services.It was also
discouraging how many of these individuals and larger programs were siloed,
non-cooperative, overlapping and competing for resources.To this end, PHIC is helping to build partnerships
for better function and document impact data to help sustain ongoing work.

It has been a joy to see the
PHIC vision come to exist in reality.There is a growing community in the Tennessee Valley committed to
improving the health and well being of all children.There is now increased discussion and new
partnership between many community partners: the Bethlehem Center, Le Paz,
Chattanooga State, UTC, Siskin, the
Hamilton County Department of Education, the Hamilton County Department of
Health, Children’s at Erlanger, the Children’s Discovery Museum, Le Bonheur
Children’s Hospital, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, the Tennessee Chapter of
the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Pediatric Healthcare Improvement
Initiative for Tennessee.

PHIC is excited for the New Year
and beyond.Specifically, we project
that the next three years will have some discrete outcomes.First, the Ambulatory component of the
Erlanger System’s Capital Building Program will receive input on components
that meet health gaps in our community.Second, the pediatric community health will have a robust input from the
Hispanic, Black and Families of Children With Special Healthcare Needs
communities.Next, our region will have
a better tool for identifying community health resources that are culturally
relevant and available for more families.Lastly, Asthma will have a significantly decreased impact on Chattanooga
children.This will be evident in increase
school attendance, academic improvement, fewer emergent transports from school to
the Emergency Department for Asthma and fewer total Emergency Department visits
for Asthma.

PHIC is a community
organization.It is your tool to improve
our children’s health and well being.We
could not have had the year we had in 2014 without you involvement and
financial support.Thank you!

I encourage you to partner with us in 2015 on
projects in which you find interest.We
appreciate your continued financial support.This work cannot go forward without the financial resources to impact
the barriers to health that exist in our community. Please consider making PHIC apart of your charitable giving plan. Online donations can be made through the Pediatric Health Fund of the Community Foundation of Greater Chattanooga at https://cfgc.caritas247.com/Donate.aspx?dcid=PHF.

Sunday, August 24, 2014

The new County Health Statistics from the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute are published. They can be reviewed in detail online. The web site is very user friendly and interesting to study.

One of the most disappointing stats is the persistent increase in adults with BMI over 30 or obese. Hamilton County is now at 31% of the population with a BMI of 30 or above.

It is clear that more detail of this data is needed. The work of the Pediatric Health Improvement Coalition has found that there is a dramatic variation in obesity rates by demographic factors in the Chattanooga Region. We have also seen that some communities, especially the at-risk communities, have started to fatigue on addressing obesity. I hope that this continued increase in obesity will propel a coordinated and effective effort to curb the impact of obesity in the Tennessee Valley.

The changes to CoverKids are among a series of recent cost-saving measures made by TennCare and other insurers over the past two years that have hit children’s hospitals’ bottom lines to an unprecedented degree, said Dr. Alan Kohrt, CEO of T.C. Thompson Children’s Hospital at Erlanger. Kohrt is also chairman of the Children’s Hospital Alliance of Tennessee, which met with state leaders this week.

Children’s at Erlanger for example, has lost more than $3 million from a string of recent cuts.

“We’re seeing increasing cuts to the children’s hospitals that threaten the level of care that we provide,” Kohrt said. “We have not had to cut any services — yet. But we continue to face financial pressure.”

Chattanooga, TN - The Pediatric Healthcare
Improvement Coalition for the TennesseeValley (PHIC-TV) is
releasing the announcement of four regional Pediatric Health Forums. These open meetings will invite the public to
comment on personal experience with local health services for children in the TennesseeValley
(Southeast Tennessee, North Alabama, North Georgia
and South Western North Carolina).

The first week of March will
be the Tennessee Valley Pediatric Health Week.
PHIC-TV will have four public listening forums in AltonPark, East Side, Dalton and Hixson. These will be meetings driven by the
attendees. The focus will be perceived
barriers to good health, areas of local health success and elements we must
have to meet the needs for our future.

The Alton Park Forum will be
at the BethlehemCenter on Monday, March 3rd
at 7PM. The Dalton,
Georgia forum will be at the
MackGastonCommunity Center
on Tuesday, March 4th at 7PM.
The East Side and EastLake forum will be held at East SideElementary School
on Thursday, March 6th at 4PM.
And, the Hixson forum will be held at DuPontElementary School
on Thursday, March 6th at 7PM.
Everyone is welcome to attend any of the forums. Forums will not be limited to the immediate neighborhood community.

The purpose of the forums is
to reach out to all families, especially those who utilize a significant amount
of pediatric health resources. We want
to listen to the individual triumph, success, challenges, barriers and dreams
for the future as families look to our local pediatric delivery of care. We also want to hear the community’s view of
barriers to good public health in general.

The Pediatric Health Improvement Coalition of the TennesseeValley (PHIC-TV) is an organization that
is working to improve the health of all children in our region. This organization is dedicated to breaking
down barriers to our children to effective and innovative healthcare. Please support the ongoing work of PHIC-TV by
getting more information at healthychattanoogakids.blogspot.com or following on
Twitter @PHIC_TV.

Sunday, December 15, 2013

Asthma is a chronic medical
condition that affects the lungs.
Patients can experience frequent cough, shortness of breath, and chest
pain or tightness on a regular basis.
Occasionally a patient with asthma will suffer an “asthma attack.” During an attack the airways in the lungs
become inflamed, make excess mucous, and become constricted. An asthma attack causes significant trouble
breathing and can lead to an emergency room visit, a hospital stay, or even
death. Infections, allergies, and
irritants, such as cigarette smoke and pollution, can lead to an asthma
attack. Attacks can easily be prevented
with regular doctor visits and effective and inexpensive medications.

7.1 million American
children suffer from asthma, which is about 8% of all children, making it one
of the most common chronic medical conditions of childhood. Here in the Chattanooga area, however, 12.5% of our
children have asthma, over 50% higher than the national average. In fact, Chattanooga
is the fifth worst city in the country for asthma according to the Asthma and
Allergy Foundation of America. WedMD places Chattanooga second. These poor rankings are due to low air
quality and high cigarette smoke exposure. Such a staggeringly high rate of asthma in a
city conducive to asthma attacks brings the scope of this local problem into
focus when considering the following nationwide facts:

·Asthma is the number one reason children
miss school

·Asthma is third most common reason for a
child to spend the night in the hospital

·Asthma costs our nation 56 billion dollars
annually

·157 children died from asthma in 2009

The most frustrating aspect
of these alarming statistics lies in the relative ease in which asthma is
treated and attacks are prevented.
Regular doctor visits and readily available medications virtually
eliminate symptoms and prevent attacks.
In fact, a recent medical study showed that even 8% of elite athletes
from the last five Olympics suffered from asthma. These athletes have doctors, take their
medicine regularly and are able to compete at the highest level of their
sport. Yet, in Chattanooga, one in five children does not
have a primary care doctor. 7% of HamiltonCounty’s children have no insurance at all. 20% of babies in Chattanooga grow up breathing second hand
cigarette smoke. This area has childhood
obesity rates 25% higher than national averages. These factors all play a detrimental role in
the lives of Chattanooga’s
asthmatic children.

The Pediatric Healthcare
Improvement Coalition—TennesseeValley (PHIC—TV) is a community
health partnership striving to decrease the negative impact of asthma on all TennesseeValley children. PHIC-TV is
currently implementing a strategic initiative to define the asthma challenges
for children and organize the means to address them. Please invest
in the ongoing work of PHIC-TV and get more information at
healthychattanoogakids.blogspot.com.